The Herbivore in the Room Body-Shaming and Food- Shaming Alienate - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Herbivore in the Room Body-Shaming and Food- Shaming Alienate Vegans and Pre-gans

Vegan Diets and Health Body Shaming Food Shaming Disease Shaming

Epidemiologic Studies Comparing Meat-Eaters, Semi-Vegetarians, Vegetarians, Vegans Adventist Health Study – 2 EPIC-Oxford (North America) Study ~8000 vegans (England) ~2600 vegans

Vegans • Average lower BMI • Less likely to have type 2 diabetes • Less likely to have hypertension • Less likely to develop certain cancers

True Vegans have, on average, lower BMIs than rest of population False “The pounds just melt away when you go vegan!”

True Vegans may have lower risk for cancer False Vegans don’t get cancer False Vegan diets can reverse cancer

True False Diets low in Vegans are saturated fat and immune from refined carbs, rich heart disease in plant fats and fiber lower risk for heart disease

Cure-All Lower Risk Bullet-Proof Increase Odds Disease-Proof

Why So Much Hype about Vegan Diets and Health? Gives us a sense of control over our health Gives us a sense of control over our mortality

Why So Much Hype about Vegan Diets and Health? We want to save animals

Promoting Vegan Diet as Guarantee of Health and Weight Loss Sets up Veganism to Fail

Consequences of Vegan Sense of Invincibility Avoiding appropriate health screenings Complacency Avoiding medical treatments for about Health serious diseases Ignoring other aspects of a healthy lifestyle

Consequences of Vegan Sense of Invincibility Disease shaming Body shaming Food shaming

Disease Shaming Suggesting we know exactly how to prevent an illness and therefore any illness is a personal failure Blame and judgment

Disease shaming causes sick vegans to feel: • Afraid to share their diagnosis with others • Unable to ask for emotional support • Afraid to share that they are using conventional treatments

Body shaming Judging, blaming about body size Judging, blaming for illnesses and attributing them to body size

True Weight can raise risk for some diseases False You can tell if someone is healthy based on their body size People with high BMI who are sick caused their illness

The Miracle Vegan Weight Loss Diet??

[it is] difficult to connect with animal advocates who rely on the narratives of health and weight loss to get people interested in the vegan message. Some of these advocates are openly hostile to meat-eaters who are overweight. That hostility may not be specifically directed my way, but it is still deeply felt by overweight vegans like myself .

Depression Body Shaming Anxiety Weight Social Stigma Isolation

True Plant foods can enhance skin health

False! Body Shaming Sexism Ageism

Food Shaming Not doing veganism “right”

What people think vegans eat Granola Tofu Grass

What vegans really eat What people think vegans eat Granola Tofu Grass

Vegan Junk Food ?

A False Dichotomy Whole Foods Plant-Based Junk-Food Vegan

Staples of Traditional Healthy Plant-Based Diets

Low-fat and high-fat plant- based diets (vegan, Reverse Mediterranean) Plaque Circulation 2010, 121:1200

Vegetable Oils and Health Single meals excessively high in fat can damage arteries Vegetable oils as part of plant-based diets associated with improved artery health Diabetes Care 31:2276, 2008; Eur J Prev Cardiol 20: 202, 2013; Brit J Nutr 100: 159, 2008; Mini-Rev Med Chem 15, 2015

I feel like an outcast due to my weight and medical conditions. I feel that there is such a push to show that veganism is so healthy and that all vegans are slim that there’s no room for me.

Veganism: Justice, Fairness, Compassion Guaranteed